Skip to content
Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Animal Kingdom

The Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature opens its doors to Sean Landers (b. 1962), a leading figure of contemporary American art and figurative painting. From October 17, 2023 to March 10, 2024, the museum’s visitors will be able to discover the work of this major artist, through an exhibition of his animal portraits. The exhibition marks the return of Sean Landers to France, following his retrospective in 2020 at the Consortium Museum in Dijon. The exhibition will feature some thirty works, mainly from private collections. Bronzes will complete the visitor's tour, and three animal portraits will be created especially for the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery
Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Educated at the Yale University School of Art in the 1980s, Sean Landers explains his adoption of figuration as an alternative stance, a dangerous path that was at that time fatally irresistible: "Doing figurative art when I was in art school was the “wrong” choice when minimal and conceptual art were more popular. It was thought to be absurd, laughable, so of course, how could I resist it?" Throughout his career Sean Landers has used his personal experiences as subject, using humor and irony, to challenge the artist's ego.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

For example, in The Urgent Necessity of Narcissism for the Artistic Mind (Jaguar), a jaguar with pink and green tartan fur has become Narcissus, literally drinking his reflection in a pond. In the background, like a diorama from a natural history museum, a forest of tree trunks develops as a narcissistic echo, engraved with the artist's first name repeated ad infinitum: Sean, Sean, Sean...

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Sean Landers

Yours Truly

2023

Oil on linen

46 x 60 inches

116.8 x 152.4 cm

(LS 23/007)

Sean Landers

Yours Truly

2023

Oil on linen

46 x 60 inches

116.8 x 152.4 cm

(LS 23/007)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Lion in Winter

2019

Oil on linen

70 x 52 inches

177.8 x 132.1 cm

(LS 19/029)

Sean Landers

Lion in Winter

2019

Oil on linen

70 x 52 inches

177.8 x 132.1 cm

(LS 19/029)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Plankboy (Pygmalion)

2019

Oil on linen

43 x 59 inches

109.2 x 149.9 cm

(LS 19/011)

Sean Landers

Plankboy (Pygmalion)

2019

Oil on linen

43 x 59 inches

109.2 x 149.9 cm

(LS 19/011)

Inquire
Sean Landers

This Thing

2017

Oil on linen

72 x 61.5 inches

182.9 x 156.2 cm

(LS 17/012)

Sean Landers

This Thing

2017

Oil on linen

72 x 61.5 inches

182.9 x 156.2 cm

(LS 17/012)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Bang!

2023

Oil on linen

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 23/009)

Sean Landers

Bang!

2023

Oil on linen

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 23/009)

Inquire
Sean Landers

White Lab

2023

Oil on linen

42 x 36 inches

106.7 x 91.4 cm

(LS 23/002)

Sean Landers

White Lab

2023

Oil on linen

42 x 36 inches

106.7 x 91.4 cm

(LS 23/002)

Inquire
Sean Landers

I Live

2023

Oil on linen

34 x 28 inches

86.4 x 71.1 cm

(LS 23/008)

Sean Landers

I Live

2023

Oil on linen

34 x 28 inches

86.4 x 71.1 cm

(LS 23/008)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Prong Horn

2015

Oil on linen

65 x 50 inches

165.1 x 127 cm

(LS 15/013)

Sean Landers

Prong Horn

2015

Oil on linen

65 x 50 inches

165.1 x 127 cm

(LS 15/013)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Painted Desert (Markhor)

2015

Oil on linen

86 x 64 inches

218.4 x 162.6 cm

(LS 15/019)

Sean Landers

Painted Desert (Markhor)

2015

Oil on linen

86 x 64 inches

218.4 x 162.6 cm

(LS 15/019)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Big Horn Sheep

2015

Oil on linen

64 x 48 inches

162.6 x 121.9 cm

(LS 15/015)

Sean Landers

Big Horn Sheep

2015

Oil on linen

64 x 48 inches

162.6 x 121.9 cm

(LS 15/015)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Arctic Fox

2014

Oil on linen

52 x 45 inches

132.1 x 114.3 cm

(LS 14/027)

Sean Landers

Arctic Fox

2014

Oil on linen

52 x 45 inches

132.1 x 114.3 cm

(LS 14/027)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Wood Chimp

2020

Oil on linen

38 x 32 inches

96.5 x 81.3 cm

(LS 20/004)

Sean Landers

Wood Chimp

2020

Oil on linen

38 x 32 inches

96.5 x 81.3 cm

(LS 20/004)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Red Rooster

2022

Oil on canvas

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 22/005)

Sean Landers

Red Rooster

2022

Oil on canvas

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 22/005)

Inquire
Sean Landers

Lion in Winter

2019

Oil on linen

70 x 52 inches

177.8 x 132.1 cm

(LS 19/029)

Sean Landers

Lion in Winter

2019

Oil on linen

70 x 52 inches

177.8 x 132.1 cm

(LS 19/029)

Sean Landers

Plankboy (Pygmalion)

2019

Oil on linen

43 x 59 inches

109.2 x 149.9 cm

(LS 19/011)

Sean Landers

Plankboy (Pygmalion)

2019

Oil on linen

43 x 59 inches

109.2 x 149.9 cm

(LS 19/011)

Sean Landers

This Thing

2017

Oil on linen

72 x 61.5 inches

182.9 x 156.2 cm

(LS 17/012)

Sean Landers

This Thing

2017

Oil on linen

72 x 61.5 inches

182.9 x 156.2 cm

(LS 17/012)

Sean Landers

Bang!

2023

Oil on linen

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 23/009)

Sean Landers

Bang!

2023

Oil on linen

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 23/009)

Sean Landers

White Lab

2023

Oil on linen

42 x 36 inches

106.7 x 91.4 cm

(LS 23/002)

Sean Landers

White Lab

2023

Oil on linen

42 x 36 inches

106.7 x 91.4 cm

(LS 23/002)

Sean Landers

I Live

2023

Oil on linen

34 x 28 inches

86.4 x 71.1 cm

(LS 23/008)

Sean Landers

I Live

2023

Oil on linen

34 x 28 inches

86.4 x 71.1 cm

(LS 23/008)

Sean Landers

Prong Horn

2015

Oil on linen

65 x 50 inches

165.1 x 127 cm

(LS 15/013)

Sean Landers

Prong Horn

2015

Oil on linen

65 x 50 inches

165.1 x 127 cm

(LS 15/013)

Sean Landers

Painted Desert (Markhor)

2015

Oil on linen

86 x 64 inches

218.4 x 162.6 cm

(LS 15/019)

Sean Landers

Painted Desert (Markhor)

2015

Oil on linen

86 x 64 inches

218.4 x 162.6 cm

(LS 15/019)

Sean Landers

Big Horn Sheep

2015

Oil on linen

64 x 48 inches

162.6 x 121.9 cm

(LS 15/015)

Sean Landers

Big Horn Sheep

2015

Oil on linen

64 x 48 inches

162.6 x 121.9 cm

(LS 15/015)

Sean Landers

Arctic Fox

2014

Oil on linen

52 x 45 inches

132.1 x 114.3 cm

(LS 14/027)

Sean Landers

Arctic Fox

2014

Oil on linen

52 x 45 inches

132.1 x 114.3 cm

(LS 14/027)

Sean Landers

Wood Chimp

2020

Oil on linen

38 x 32 inches

96.5 x 81.3 cm

(LS 20/004)

Sean Landers

Wood Chimp

2020

Oil on linen

38 x 32 inches

96.5 x 81.3 cm

(LS 20/004)

Sean Landers

Red Rooster

2022

Oil on canvas

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 22/005)

Sean Landers

Red Rooster

2022

Oil on canvas

36 x 30 inches

91.4 x 76.2 cm

(LS 22/005)

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery
Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

For over ten years, Sean Landers has been developing his series of tartan-furred animals. This incongruous, trompe-l'œil use of tartan is a reference to Magritte—to his so-called "La période vache" of 1948 when, in a deliberately coarse style, he undermined the notion of "good painting". The temporary exhibition room at the Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature will be entirely devoted to this series. While upstairs, in dialogue with the permanent collections, including its animal portraits by Chardin (1699-1779), Oudry (1720-1778) or Desportes (1661-1741), and taxidermied animals, the visitor will set off to meet a parade of creatures as marvelous as they are mysterious.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

A lion and monkey with fake wood fur, rabbit or rooster staring back at their observers, perhaps questioning their own humanity. The exhibition opens with other series that punctuate Sean Landers' artistic career, demonstrating the extreme importance of text and the written word in his relationship with Surrealism—a forest of birch trees with trunks covered in writing carved into the wood, or a library displaying fanciful titles like riddles or confessions by the artist.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery
Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

About Sean Landers

Born in 1962 in Palmer, Massachusetts, Sean Landers received his BFA from Philadelphia College of Art in 1984 and his MFA from Yale University School of Art in 1986. Living and working in New York, he is represented by Petzel in New York, Rodolphe Janssen in Brussels, Capitain Petzel in Berlin, and Taka Ishii Gallery in Tokyo. Sean Landers' work can be found in numerous institutions.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery

Museums and public collections include the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; Denver Art Museum; Seattle Art Museum; Dallas Museum of Art; Tate Modern, London; Sammlung Hoffmann, Berlin; and Fundación/La Colección Jumex, Mexico.

Sean Landers - Animal Kingdom - Collect - Petzel Gallery